ARTSBEAT; Guilty Plea in 'South Park' Case

By DAVE ITZKOFF

Published: February 10, 2012

One of the men arrested for making threatening comments about the creators of ''South Park'' on a radical religious Web site pleaded guilty on Thursday to federal charges, The Associated Press reported.

The man, Jesse Curtis Morton, went by the name Younus Abdullah Mohammad when he and another man, Zachary A. Chesser, wrote on a Web site called Revolution Muslim that an episode of ''South Park,'' an animated series on Comedy Central, had insulted the Prophet Muhammad.

In the episode, the denizens of South Park are introduced to a character wearing a bear costume who they are told is the Muslim prophet. When the episode was first shown in April 2010, a message appeared on Revolution Muslim saying that the ''South Park'' creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone ''will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show.'' Mr. Van Gogh was killed by an Islamic radical in 2004 after making a film about the abuse of Muslim women. After the Web site message appeared, Comedy Central censored a follow-up ''South Park'' episode in which the character in the bear suit was instead revealed to be Santa Claus.

Mr. Morton was arrested in Morocco last October. He pleaded guilty at a hearing in federal court in Virginia to counts of conspiracy, communicating threats and using the Internet to intimidate, The A.P. said. Mr. Chesser, who also went by the name Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee, was arrested in July 2010 and was sentenced last year to 25 years in prison.

This is a more complete version of the story than the one that appeared in print.